Nada Surf--Lucky-- Here's what I wrote about this record after I first got it. Can't much disagree now: it's rare that a record is as beautiful as this one. We value a lot of things in popular music: "catchy," "rockin'" "funky" "danceable"; but "beautiful" seldom makes the list. The sound is lush and complex, and the album is crammed to the edges with beauty: melodies, harmonies, backing vocals, cello parts - many tracks are so pretty it almost hurts to listen to them. Even now, as I make swoony goo-goo eyes at my computer while I type this and "See These Bones" plays, I'm getting some very strange looks from my fellow coffee shop patrons. But this is what love does: it makes you ridiculous. (When I reread this in six months, I'm sure I'll be cringing at my earnestness; but, for now, I'm going irony free.)Of course, the music is only half the story; the lyrics hit me where I live--in that strange bittersweet zone where joy and sadness meet. The album is packed with images of death, loss, and sadness: "just like we are, you'll be dust," "ice is growing on the wings," "everyone's got to leave their love sometime." But this is no mopefest; it's catchy, it rocks, and it proves, in an unassuming, unpretentious way that popular art and great art can be the same thing.
Frank Black and the Catholics: Black Letter Days/Devil's Workshop
Everybody went crazy when the Pixies reunited, and well they might, but what most folks missed is that Frank Black has been busy growing as both a musician and a songwriter. I mean, look, I love "Wave of Mutilation" as much as the next guy, if not more, but Frank on his own is writing songs that are more personal, less gnomic, and still pretty rockin'. He put these two out simultaneously, and except for one horrific dud on "Black Letter Days", they are both top-notch. Devil's Workshop has a more Pixies-ish sound, so that's probably a good place for folks unfamiliar with Frank's solo work to start. Here's my favorite from that one: a dark, spooky tale of a visit to Graceland.
Hank Williams III-- Lovesick, Broke, and Drifting. If you like country music even the slightest bit, you need this record. Period. This is old school country music about booze and heartbreak, and Hank has been gifted with his grandfather's voice. It's actually kinda eerie in places. Sadly, Hank seems to have gone off the rails a bit after this--while there's one song ("Trashville" featuring ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons on guitar) on this one about how commercial country music sucks, that's become a bit of an obsession with him, to the point where there's an anti-Kid Rock song on his latest album. Which just seems kinda like shooting fish in a barrel to me. But this album is fantastic from start to finish, and the highlight for me is "Five Shots of Whiskey" which I believe is one of the finest country songs ever recorded. Have a listen:
Len Price 3-- Rentacrowd Yes, it sounds like it should be an accounting firm. But really it's a British band rocking that early Who, early Kinks sound in a quite authoritative fashion. This is a bigger achievement than it might initially sound when you figure that nobody else is really doing it, and even Pete Townsend forgot how to write a good Who song around 1969. (Yeah, I said it--best garage band in the world became bloated arena rockers. Feh.) A fantastic album start to finish, and that sound just makes me smile.
Lordi-- The Arockalypse--I've written about this band a lot over the last few years, but let me just say this bunch of Finns in latex monster suits makes fantastically awesome and melodic 80's-style metal, and this album is their most consistently awesome. I really like "The Kids Who Want To Play With The Dead" as well as "The Deadite Girls Gone Wild," though the Eurovision-winning "Hard Rock Hallelujah" is probably the standout, and the video conveys the spirit of the band perfectly. The dark humor! The costumes! The pyro! The zombie cheerleaders! Throw up those horns and rock out.
